The Mattress

In the market equivalent of shoveling cash under the mattress, hordes of buyers were so eager on Tuesday to park money in the world’s safest investment, United States government debt, that they agreed to accept a zero percent rate of return.

You sometimes hear people snarking “remember fiscal responsibility …” or some such, but this is an example of why, yes, we shouldn’t care about some things we normally care about. When yields reach these kind of levels, it’s a no-brainer to start looking for useful public projects to finance with borrowed money.